Snyder: A Century of SU Hoops

century of

Throughout the years, the Orangemen

have provided fans with many amazing

moments on the basketball court

Coach , a walk-on player in B y B o b S n y d e r 1962, has one of the highest winning per­ centages in NCAA Division 1 basketball.

ur windows on the world are too often framed into a packed Manley Dome, not to have tasted dust rising from within life's experiences. The teenager views the beneath a portable floor, heard The Zoo fracture a visiting coach's lifeline of basketball through ego and eardrums, meant missing some of SU hoops' most trea­ 0 the windblown portals of the Carrier Dome: Etan sured moments. Thomas's shot-blocking, Jason's H(e)art, Damone There was Georgetown coach John Thompson declaring "Man­ Brown's dunks, Ryan Blackwell's inside/outside game, and a sup­ ley Field House is officially closed!"-a streak-snapping end to the porting cast that seasoned orchestrator Jim Boeheim directed to Bouie 'n' Louie Show; Cinderella, Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament and a 26-6 finish. taking a town on a first, almost mystical journey to the Final Four Even adult Orange hoop junkies, part of 30,ooo-plus crowds in '75; Sweet D and the Brothers Lee; Roy's Runts; the roof-bound that seem so many yesterdays removed from the new millenni­ flight of doves greeting their namesake, St. John's Sonny; graceful um, have witnessed their share of memorable moments. They Dave Bing, greatest of all Orangemen, whose combined scoring/ watched John Wallace carry a team to an improbable last dance rebounding/passing ability remains unequaled on Piety Hill. And with Kentucky for the 1996 national championship; Billy Owens's could that bespectacled, bony Boeheim really play? all-around game; Derrick Coleman clear NCAA title game boards Well, surely, there was nothing of consequence before then. An as no freshman ever had, only to be shot down by Keith Smart; NIT bid was a big deal. RPI was an engineering school, not a ratings Gene Waldron's surreal40-point performance in the Carrier Clas­ percentage index. And ESPN wasn't even a blip on your TV screen. sic; The Shot fired by Pearl Washington, whose scintillating moves But much had transpired on SU's road to more than 1,500 victories. played to full houses and energized recruiting; and The Greatest There was a basketball life before Boeheim, who arrived on campus Game, a Big East Tournament crown won in triple overtime on Leo a walk-on in '62. That period was not without glory, nor sans court Rautins's tip-in. embarrassment. Actually, men's basketball began two years after Do their SU basketball memory banks end there? As if Manley the women took the court in 1898. For the first three seasons, the Field House, seen now in its ever-expanding form, must have been men's team had no coach. Since then, every Orange coach- seven, some ratty hole where a bunch of nameless faces on unheralded beginning with athletic director John A.R. Scott, who first volun­ teams played games that didn't shape a program's future. teered his services in' 03- had winning career records. Boeheim, of Couldn't have been much game back in those days when the course, is the leader in games, victories, and winning percentage. only three-pointer included a free throw. Yet to have never squeezed But , SU's longtime athletic director, won 355 games

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from 1924-50 and had a .726 winning percentage. Ed Dollard (1911-24), Gabor guided the 1945-46 team (23-4) to the most victories in whose 1913-14 squad was the school's only one to go undefeated (12- school history until nearly 30 years later. That Gabor-led squad had o), had a .725 winning percentage. an average winning margin of 22.1 points, by far the most by any There was no NCAA Tournament until the thirties. Dollard's SU basketball team. squad in 1917-18 won 16 of 17 games and was selected as national Andreas's hand-picked successor was assistant and '36 captain champion by the Helms Foundation. Andreas's team in 1925-26, led Marc Guley. Talk about highs and lows! The Guley years began by the legendary , had a 19-1 mark and also was Helms's with the 1950-51 team, led by Jack Kiley, which beat host Bradley choice as national champ. for the National Campus Tournament crown. Those dozen sea­ In that era of the center jump following every made basket and a sons-which included the contributions of SU's greatest football designated free-throw shooter, the Orangemen lived a spartan life. player, Jim Brown-were highlighted by No comfortable apartment living, grand hotel accommodations on Vinnie Cohen leading the Orangemen the road, plane travel. SU players lived in Pneumonia Hall. With no to their first NCAAs in '57- SU was oust­ heat or hot water and one light in the ceiling, they slept on cots. On ed in the East Regional final by North a long winter trip to New York City, for example, they'd trudge Carolina, the eventual unbeaten through the snow to the train station. national champion. Ironically, Still, the early years spawned success-and fine players such as Brown-second in scoring as All-Americans Lew Castle, Joe Schwarzer, and Hanson. Before a sophomore, but a non- Manley's doors were opened to Bing and Boeheim in 1962, SU hoops was played in Archbold Gym, the Jefferson Street Armory, the Fairgrounds Coliseum, and the War Memorial. A team dubbed the Reindeer Five-the fast foursome of Ev Katz, Dan Fogarty, Tuppy Hayman, and captain Ken Beagle, plus "Slim" Elliott-won 34 of 40 games from 1929-31. In the late thir- ties, a squad was nicknamed the S-Men. Not for Syracuse, but for Sonderman, Simon­ aitis, Schroeder, Stewart, and Sidat-Singh. Following a war­ time suspension of the sport in 1943-44, Bullet Billy

https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol16/iss3/11 2 Snyder: A Century of SU Hoops

starter the following coach. He recruited Bing from Washington, D.C. And after a year year-passed up playing when Bing played freshman ball (frosh could not play varsity on hoops that senior season. the college level at that time), the Orangemen were back on the Certainly he would have pro­ winning track. As a senior, Bing averaged 28.4 points per game vided added scoring, re- (24.8 for his career). Bing & Co. set an NCAA scoring record, averag­ bounding, and depth. Could ing 99 points a game, and reached the '66 NCAA Regional final, los­ he have been the difference in a ing to Duke. After two more seasons, Lewis would depart. nine-point loss to the Tar Heels? Frosh coach , who played for Lewis at Southern We'll never know. Mississippi, was elevated. In Danforth's third year, the Orange­ Thereafter, SU dipped a bit, men-led by 6-11 Bill Smith-made it to postseason play. The NIT then went into a free-fall: 4-19 in still looked pretty good back then, and it was SU's first tournament 1960-61, 2-22 the year after, when action since the '67 NIT. the program lost its first 22 games SU basketball was back, never to really crumble on the court again. of the season. This was the worst Little did anyone know at the time, but the program was bound for team in the country, with an higher ground, uncharted territory as SU hoops and the collegiate bas­ NCAA-record 27 consecutive losses ketball landscape were soon to undergo dramatic changes. over two winters. Fortunately, a Rice That '71 NIT initiated a national pace-setting run of 22 succes­ team came along and expunged the sive trips to postseason Orange from record-book infamy. play. An opening-round For this program to rise from the victory in the '72 NIT ashes, it would take an all-new was the program's first look. Dr. George L. Manley was the postseason win since the benefactor, providing the bucks '66 NCAAs. And in 1973, for Manley Field House to be the Orange returned to built. Fred Lewis came in as the Big Dance for the first time in seven years. SU wouldn't be a non­ participant in the NCAAs again until the eight­ ies-and then, on the heels of the greatest col­ legiate game ever played in Syracuse. In the seventies, a pro­ gram given rebirth by Bing grew because of clothesline jump shots of Greg "Kid" Kohls, the scrappiness of Roy's Runts personified by under-sized forwards Mike Lee and Mark Wadach, and the stylish play of Den- nis DuVal. Then came a fairy-tale trip. Of SU's three Final Fours-'75, '87, 'g6- the first and last were simi­ lar. Both were unexpect­ ed, none more so than a quarter-century ago, when SU arrived at the crossroads of a season. Having blown huge leads (combined cush­ ions of 40 points) in back-to-back Manley losses to Rutgers and West Virginia, the

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latter made worse appearing on the ECAC televised game of the week, ing, and homegrown Howard Triche. the Orange found itself with a 14-7 mark and down 12-zip at George An SU-Indiana final was a virtual toss-up, and that's the Washington. SU rallied to win and didn't lose again until arriving way it played out. Coleman could have iced it at the foul line, but he after a magic carpet ride to the Final Four in San Diego. Nine didn't. And in the closing seconds, a left -side 16-footer by Indiana's straight Ws. Keith Smart went in, instead of spinning out as Bryant's had from After winning the rest of the regular-season slate and the ECAC close range a dozen years before. Hoosiers, 74-73- Little consolation playoffs, the Orange was a five-foot jump shot away from losing to that it was one of the great NCAA finals. LaSalle in the NCAA opener at the Palestra. Joe Bryant missed. SU A cloud fell over the program with NCAA probation in '92, keep­ won in overtime. Then, Divine Providence! ing the team at home during postseason play the following March Despite shooting .653 from the field, North Carolina-the taller and affecting recruiting beyond that. But one blemish on an other­ favorites from Tobacco Road-was stunned by the Orange in the wise clean slate is a thing of the past. East Regional semis, 78-76. It was a backcourt brawl in the Pro­ No consolation needed in '96, when hometown playmaker vidence Civic Center. The Tar Heels' tandem of Phil Ford and south­ Lazarus Sims pointed the way as once again the Orange needed a paw Brad Hoffman scored 44 between them, while SU's Jimmy Lee and Jimmy "Don't Call Me Bug" Williams combined for 43- With the clock winding down and SU, trailing by one, having called its final time-out, the ball went to star frontcourt player Rudy "Rag Man" Hackett. "I saw Phil Ford and the boys coming. So I threw it right out to 'Rat' (Lee). I knew he'd be there," Hackett said afterward. "He's been there for three years." With five seconds remaining, from 18 feet away, Lee let it fly. Nothing but net. It wasn't so neat and clean in the regional final with Kansas State. Again the clock was :05 from midnight, when Cinderella's carriage would turn into an Orange pumpkin. Regional MVP Chuckie Williams's bomb from the left corner had given Kansas State the lead by two. Following a time- T h e 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 0 su basketball team out, SU inb ounded to Williams, who raced up the left sideline in a blur and hit Hackett from more Harry Houdini escape to advance in the Round of 16. In the West than 20 feet away. For just an instant, which seemed to the Orange Region semis in Denver, Georgia scrapped like 'Dogs, but Wallace faithful an eternity, Hackett fumbled the ball. But he put it in over found Jason Cipolla for a buzzer-beating jumper from the left cor­ the front rim and SU was just an overtime away from the Final ner that spelled OT. Wallace's last-gasp bomb from just over mid­ Four. SU rolled by eight in OT. "California, Here We Come!'' the next court won it in overtime, 83-81. day's headline at home read. Then, favored Kansas fell by three. In the Final Four at the And if losing to giant Kentucky by 16 and Louisville in OT doesn't Meadowlands, Mississippi State went down by eight. Kentucky, a now seem the greatest of Final Fours, realize how improbable the double-digit favorite coached by former Boeheim aide Rick Pitino, whole trip was back then for a program that was not national in was taken to the final four minutes before winning it all by nine. scope, merely regional. Through much of it all- including this season, in which SU had a It was all different 12 years later. Boeheim had taken over for his 19-0 start, was the last unbeaten Division 1 team to fall, and won a boss, Danforth, whose decision to leave after the 1975-76 season share of the Big East regular-season title--the two constants have and go to Tulane was misguided, to say the least. Surely it cost him been James Arthur Boeheim and the fans. Surely, J.A.B. has been here millions of greenbacks. Boeheim won 100 games his first four sea­ forever. Didn't he come with the old furniture and just never leave? sons. The Carrier Dome opened. The Big East Conference gave the And while the turnstile count has dwindled in recent years, SU Orange added identity in a league laden with big media markets. It remains among the leaders at the gate. When next you watch the was the most televised hoop conference in the country, and SU's Orangemen, capture the moment. But pause a moment to remem­ recruiting wings stretched coast to coast. ber all the yesterdays. You'll enjoy it even more. The talent was considerable on the '87 team that won a school­ record 31 games and beat Florida, North Carolina, and Providence to Bob Snyder has been a sports columnist/writer for The Syracuse go from the Sweet 16 to the last whirl around the Big Dance floor. Newspapers since 1965. A 1962 graduate of SU, he's a past recipient of There was Sherman Douglas, Rony Seikaly, rookie rebounding phe­ the ECAC Sports Information Directors' Award for contributions in cov­ nom Coleman-longtime NBA players still-plus Greg Monroe, erage of athletics. Snyder's second book- Syracuse Basketball: A Cen­ who delivered treys in the first year of collegiate three-point shoot- tury of Memories- was published in 1999 (see Cover to Cover, page 62).

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